# Thomas Edmondes > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Edmondes > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Edmondes.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edmondes > Source revision: 1351258760 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English diplomat and politician}} {{redirect|Thomas Edmunds|the Australian politician|Tom Edmunds}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} [[File:Sir Thomas Edmondes by Daniel Mytens.jpg|thumb|Sir Thomas Edmondes, holding a white staff, symbol of certain senior officers of the [Royal Household](/source/Royal_Households_of_the_United_Kingdom)]] [[File:EdmondsArms.png|thumb|Arms of Edmonds: ''Or, a chevron azure on a canton of the second a boar's head couped between three fleurs-de-lys of the first''[Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.](/source/John_Lambrick_Vivian), (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the [Heralds' Visitations](/source/Heraldic_visitation) of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.327]] '''Sir Thomas Edmonds''' (1563 – 20 September 1639) was an English diplomat and politician who served under three successive monarchs, Queen [Elizabeth I](/source/Elizabeth_I_of_England), Kings [James I](/source/James_I_of_England) and [Charles I](/source/Charles_I_of_England), and occupied the office of [Treasurer of the Royal Household](/source/Treasurer_of_the_Household) from 1618 to 1639. ==Origins== He was the fifth son of Thomas Edmonds (d.1604) of [Plymouth](/source/Plymouth) in Devon and of [Fowey](/source/Fowey) in Cornwall (eldest son of Henry Edmunds of [Salisbury](/source/Salisbury) in Wiltshire), [Customer of Plymouth](/source/Customer_(tax_collector)) in 1564, by his first wife Joane de la Bere, a daughter of Anthony De la Bere of [Sherborne](/source/Sherborne) in Dorset.[Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.](/source/John_Lambrick_Vivian), (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the [Heralds' Visitations](/source/Heraldic_visitation) of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.327, pedigree of "Edmonds of Plymouth" ==Career== He is said to have been introduced at court by another namesake, Sir Thomas Edmonds, [Comptroller of the household](/source/Comptroller_of_the_household) to Queen [Elizabeth I](/source/Elizabeth_I_of_England), where he received the rudiments of political education from Sir [Francis Walsingham](/source/Francis_Walsingham). He was a man of small stature but formidable character: people spoke of "the little man" with respect. In 1592 the queen appointed Edmonds as her agent in France concerning the affairs of the king of Navarre and the [Protestants](/source/Huguenot), in which office he continued until 1596, when the queen appointed him her "secretary of the French tongue". He then returned to Paris in 1597. In 1597 he was elected as a [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament) for [Chippenham](/source/Chippenham_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in Wiltshire, but as he was abroad the seat was occupied by a [proxy](/source/Proxy_voting). In 1600 he was the queen's [ambassador at Brussels](/source/List_of_Ambassadors_from_the_United_Kingdom_to_Belgium) and one of the commissioners for the peace conference at [Boulogne-sur-Mer](/source/Boulogne-sur-Mer). In 1601 he was appointed a clerk of the [Privy Council](/source/Privy_Council_of_England), but returned to Paris as minister soon after. He was elected an MP for [Liskeard](/source/Liskeard_(UK_Parliament_constituency)), Cornwall, in 1601. He was knighted by King [James I](/source/James_I_of_England) at [Greenwich Palace](/source/Greenwich_Palace) on 22 May 1603.Vivian, p.327 In 1604 he was sent as ambassador to [Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor](/source/Rudolf_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor). Soon after, while still abroad, he was elected a [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament) for [Wilton](/source/Wilton_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in Wiltshire and was granted the reversion to the office of [Clerk of the Crown](/source/Clerk_of_the_Crown_in_Chancery). He returned to Brussels as [ambassador](/source/List_of_Ambassadors_from_the_United_Kingdom_to_Belgium) in 1609, and from 1610 served as [ambassador to France](/source/List_of_ambassadors_from_the_United_Kingdom_to_France) for seven years. In 1616 he was appointed [Comptroller of the Royal Household](/source/Comptroller_of_the_Household) and in 1618 [Treasurer of the Royal Household](/source/Treasurer_of_the_Household), a post he held until his death. He was elected as an MP for [Bewdley](/source/Bewdley_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in 1621, for [Chichester](/source/Chichester_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in February 1624, for [Oxford University](/source/Oxford_University_(UK_Parliament_constituency)), all in the first Parliament of King [Charles I](/source/Charles_I_of_England) in 1625 and in 1628 for [Penrhyn](/source/Penryn_(UK_Parliament_constituency)).{{cite web|url = http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/edmondes-thomas-1563-1639|title = EDMONDS, Thomas (c.1563-1639), of Albyns, Romford, Essex and Holborn, London.|publisher = History of Parliament Online|access-date =28 December 2011}} His final diplomatic service was to return as a special [ambassador to France](/source/List_of_ambassadors_from_the_United_Kingdom_to_France) in 1629 to ratify a treaty. ==Retirement== On his return to England he retired to [Albyns](/source/Albyns) in [Essex](/source/Essex), a [manor](/source/Manorialism) he had inherited from his wife, it was said he employed the architect [Inigo Jones](/source/Inigo_Jones) to rebuild the house. He died on 20 September 1639. ==Marriage and progeny== He married [Magdalen Wood](/source/Magdalen_Wood) (died 1614), a daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Wood, [Clerk of the Signet](/source/Clerk_of_the_Signet). Their children included: *Sir [Henry Edmonds](/source/Henry_Edmonds), [Knight of the Bath](/source/Knight_of_the_Bath), his heir (a "hopeless drunkard"). *Isabella Edmonds, wife of [Henry West, 4th Baron De La Warr](/source/Henry_West%2C_4th_Baron_De_La_Warr) *Frances Edmonds, wife of [Robert Mildmay](/source/Robert_Mildmay), and an ancestor of [Baron FitzWalter](/source/Baron_FitzWalter). His second wife was Sara or [Sarah Harington](/source/Sarah_Harington) (1565–1628), a daughter of [Sir James Harington of Exton](/source/James_Harington_(lawyer)) and Lucy Sidney, and widow of [Francis, Lord Hastings](/source/Francis_Hastings%2C_Lord_Hastings), Sir George Kingsmith, and [Edward 11th Baron Zouche](/source/Edward_la_Zouche%2C_11th_Baron_Zouche). Her portrait was painted by [Isaac Oliver](/source/Isaac_Oliver) and by [Cornelius Johnson](/source/Cornelius_Johnson_(artist)).See, [http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1166138 Portrait of Lady Edmondes, by Cornelius Johnson, NT Hatchlands] and, [https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/10517/portrait-of-sarah-harington-lady-edmondes Portrait of Lady Edmondes, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas]. The portraits by Johnson show her aged 63 wearing a large miniature case referring to [Frederick V of the Palatinate](/source/Frederick_V_of_the_Palatinate) with the Greek letter "phi". A similar miniature case was described in an inventory of a Scottish soldier.Athol Murray, 'Jewels Associated with the Queen of Bohemia', ''Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland'', 131 (2001), pp. 328, 343. ==References== *J. Palmer, ''A Biographical History of England'' (1824), 86–7. *M. Greengrass, 'Edmonds, Sir Thomas (d. 1639)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8486], Retrieved 12 Jan 2009 {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Edmonds, Thomas}} Category:1563 births Category:1639 deaths Category:Treasurers of the Household Category:Clerks of the Privy Council Category:17th-century English knights Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Liskeard Category:English MPs 1597–1598 Category:English MPs 1601 Category:English MPs 1604–1611 Category:English MPs 1621–1622 Category:English MPs 1624–1625 Category:English MPs 1625 Category:English MPs 1626 Category:English MPs 1628–1629 Category:Ambassadors of England to France Category:Ambassadors of England to the Habsburg Netherlands Category:17th-century English diplomats Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for the University of Oxford Category:16th-century English diplomats Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Penryn --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Edmondes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edmondes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edmondes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.